Alaska Supreme Court finds Republican gerrymander in Anchorage districts, orders new map

The Alaska Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday confirmed that Alaska’s redistricting board gerrymandered the boundaries of state Senate districts in Anchorage with a view to favor Republican-leaning Eagle River.

In a short discover, the Supreme Courtroom upheld a prolonged Superior Courtroom order issued earlier this month.

“We affirm the superior courtroom’s willpower that the board once more engaged in unconstitutional political gerrymandering to extend the one group’s voting energy on the expense of others,” the Supreme Courtroom wrote.

The courts’ resolution means the redistricting board should undertake a special plan for this 12 months’s legislative elections, ordered by the Superior Courtroom choose. The board might proceed work and probably write a special map for the elections from 2024 onward.

The Senate map adopted by the board, generally known as “Possibility 3B,” joined south Eagle River with South Anchorage and Girdwood; north Eagle River was joined with Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and the Authorities Hill neighborhood.

The end in Anchorage, primarily based on voting patterns from 2016 via 2020, would have been two solidly Republican Senate districts, two solidly Democratic ones and 4 aggressive districts, one Republican-leaning.

The courtroom’s motion means the board should undertake “Possibility 2,” which joins Eagle River right into a solidly Republican Senate district. Possibility 2 additionally leads to two solidly Democratic districts and 5 aggressive districts, two of which lean Republican.

Tuesday’s courtroom order is sort of definitely the ultimate phrase in redistricting earlier than this 12 months’s legislative elections. The submitting deadline for candidates is June 1, and the Supreme Courtroom is the choice of final resort for authorized appeals.

Considerably, its resolution seems to substantiate that Republican-appointed redistricting board members colluded to attract maps favorable to Republican candidates.

That isn’t fully clear; the courtroom stated a extra prolonged rationalization will observe at a future date.

This text is creating and shall be up to date.